Film developing and fixing reel



Oct. 15, 1940. H. H'. CHAI-'VIN 2,218,392

FILM DEVELOPING AND F'IXING REEL Filed April 29, 1937 maw ATTORNEYS.

1,-; termined spaced relation. The film is inserted sheet of stainlesssteel bent in the form of a. 45

Patented oct. 15, 1940 l I 2,218,392

AUNITED sTATEs PATENT OFFICE 2,218,392 vrms: DEVELOPING Arm mme REEL amyn. Charvin, cinema, om

Application April ze, 1931, sei-1.1 No. 139,811

s emma (c1. uz-'m My invention relates to a film developing and modatethe reel when the end pieces are at their fixing tank for the developingand fixing of pho; greatest distance apart. n tographlc roll filmwherein the filmiswound on Reference is now made to the drawing which aspool spirally with a space between each conforms apart thereof, and inwhich,

5 volution of the film, and the spool carrying the Figurei is a crosssection view of one end of It film is placed in a metaltank which isfilled with my reel and tank taken on the section; line I-I thenecessary developer for devoping the film. of Fig. 2.

The tanks preferably have a cover or lid with Fig. 2 is averticalsection of my novel reel an aperture permitting the insertion of liquidland tank taken on the section line 2--2 of Fig. 1.

lo into the tank but covered with a light trap so Fig. 3 is a detailedsection of a modification of l0 that the actual developing of the filmmay be the telescopic tubes on which the reel ends are done in the lightwithout any danger of striking mounted.

or ruining the film. Fig. 4 is a perspective of the light trap asso- T-is an object of my invention to provide ciated with the top lof thetank. l5 a film holder in the form of a reel which prede- Fig. 5 is aperspective ofthe light trap cover- Il termines the position of a nlm onthe reel and ing the pouring vent of the top.

in which the film is only'contacted on the narrow In the practice of myinvention I provide a portion next to the edge. U-shaped channel I whichis wound in a-single It is a further object of my invention to plane inthe form of a spiral with the inner gn provide a film holding reel onwhich the film end 2 closed by a piece of strap metal 3, and with 20.may be readily placed in total darkness without the outer end 4. Ipreferably make my channel the necessity of fingering or handling thenlm on of stainless steel although other materials may be either of itssurfaces, and without the necessity used, and I do not intend to limitmyself to any of practiced manipulation in loading the reel. specialkind of material. The channel I is so e5 It is a further object of myinvention to prowound that the opening 5 of the channel lies in 25 videa film tank and a film holding reel which a single plane and the spiralconfiguration of the may be used with a plurality of films of differentchannel is maintained by a metallic spider shaped widths. brace 6, whichis preferably spot welded tothe These and other objects of my inventionwhich back of the channel I.

.in will be set forth hereinafter or will be apparent The channel I ismounted on the tube 1 by 30 to one skilled in the art upon reading thisspecimeans of spot welding the spider 6 to the tube. fication, Iaccomplish by that certain construc- I preferably strike down fingers 8from tlie'szpiderl tion and arrangement of pa'rts of which I shall 6 andspot Weld these fingers 8 to the outside now describe a preferredembodiment. ofthe tube 1.

:m Briefly in the practice of my invention, I prorThe second or oppositeend piece of my novel 35 vide a film holding reel composed of a pair ofend reel is formed in exactly the same manner as members spaced apartand formed by a single the one described in the above paragraph, exceptcontinuous U-shaped channel which is spirally that the spiral is in thereverse and the channel wound to form the end pieces in such a mannerportion I in this case is mounted by means of its il, that the openingof the channels of the pair face spider 6' to'the metal tube 9 with thefingers 40 each other and are inregistry with each other. 8 spot weldedto the inside of the tube 9. The These two ends are held apart by a pairof teletwo tubes I and 9 are telescoped into each other, scopic tubesfastened to each end, and which the tubev 9 being on the inside of thetube 1. have means for maintaining the ends in a. prede- These tubes 1and 8 arepreferably formed of a or mounted on the reel by starting thefilm on cylinder with their4 ends abutting, and with nnthe outside endsof the channelsiso that the edges gers I0 struck up from one end andoverlappingy of the nlm will slip into the channels themselves, and spotwelded to the opposite and abutting end. and by pushing the film intothe channels it will In order to permit the relative telescoping of the50 follow them and position itself in a spiral detertubes I and 9 thelingers III on the inside tube 50 mined by the spiral of the channels. 9are placed on thelnside ofthe Vtube while the 'The tank or containerwhich holds the reel is ilngers III on the outside tube 1 are placed oncylindrical in form and of a slightly larger the 'outside of that tube.diameter than the overall diameter of the end In order to space the pairof end members a pieces. The tank is deep enough to justaccompredetermined distance apart, I place a slot II 55 within the tube9 with a plurality of locking or key slots I2 branching off from themain slot` II. The outer tube 8 carries a bayonet pin I2 which rides inthe slot II and the locking slots I2. I preferably place a cap I4 on theend of my tube 8, and an apertured cap Il at the other end of the innertube i in order to give the reel a finished appearance. The bayonet pinI! and the lock slots I2 are so positioned that when the bayonet pin I3is within one of the lock slots I2, the two oppositely positioned spiralchannels I are in registry with each other.

In order to facilitate the entry of the end of a film into my channelsI, I cut the ends l of my channels I with a lip Il on the outside wall,which is folded back as at Ii' to form a smooth surface. I'his lip Il ispreferably bent awayfrom the center of the reel in order to form aguiding member for inserting the end of the film. On the opposite wallIl of the channel ends I, I place a second guide member I5, which iscomposed of a strap of metal spot welded to the outside of the wall I8and bent down and VNlltccting the wall to the succeeding convolutim ofthe spiral at 2l. Preferably I lap a portion of the piece I9 around thebottom or base of the channel i, and spot weld it in position. Thechannel Il is bent upwardly as it passes the end Il of the channel I insuch a manner that a slight hump having a smooth surface partly impedesthe entrance to the channel. This hump 2| prevents a film after onceplaced on the reel, from sliding out without being actually pulled outby the fingers.

From the above it is apparent that by the relative telescoping of thetubes l and'l, the distance between the channel end pieces I may bevaried, and are only determined by the lengths of the tubes I and l, andby the positioning and number of the lock slots I2.

It is also apparent that due to the fact that the slot ll runs out tothe end of the tube l, that the two ends I ofthe spool may be completelypulled apart and disassembled, which is a decided advantage at times inremoving a film from the reel after developing and fixing.

The tank in which my novel illm holder is placed, comprises acylindrical casing preferably composed of stainless steel with acylindrical side wall 22, and a bottom 23. Struck up from the bottom 23is a journal 24 which preferably nts within the tube end piece Il, inorder to det/ermnethe centering yof the spool. The Journal 24 ispreferably of sunicient height to slightly lift the reel koff the bottom2l of the tank and preferably has indented channels 24a in its sides topermit the now of liquid from within the tube l to the bottom of thetank and under the reel. The side wall 22 of the tank has a bead 2lstruck out from the side to determine the positioning of the top as iswell known in the art.

The top of the tank comprises a cylindrically formed metal piece 2lhaving side walls 21. which telescope over the side walls 22 of the tankand contact the bead 2l. 'I'he top portion 2l has a 'circular bead 29pressed therein, and an aperture Il having a neck II positioned in thecenter of the top and covered by a light trap I2 held by spot weldedlegs Il to the top. It may be advantageous to place s cap Il within theaperture 30 in order to give the completed and enclosed tank a finishedappearance. A vent or pouring spout 34 lis formed in .the bead 2l and aplate Il is preferably spot welded under this vent to form a light trap.l

n perfectly light tight and while it is From the above it is apparentthat the loaded reelmaybeplacedinthetankandthelid in position. Thedeveloping iiuid may then be poured through the opening Il in the topand flows over the rim l2 of the light trap I2. down around the reel andthe nlm contained therein. A special feature of my invention is that thechannel I when spirally wound has a continuous opening I', between eachconvolution, which permits the liquid when poured into the tank toquickly flow around and completely immerse the film I0 carried on thereel.

aperture 3l. The apertures Il and I4 are load the reelwiththefilminadarkspot, actual developing, washing and fixing may donein ordinary daylight.

'Ihe modification illustrated in Fig. 3, is similar to the reelheretofore described excepting that the reel is made for one size offilm only, and therefore the slot II has only on locking slot I2, andthe cap Il is preferably omitted inasmuch as the tube 9 does not projectbeyond the end oi the tube 1'. I may also use an agitator knob Il as isillustrated in Fig. 3 having a shank ll with a fiat end which projectsin a slot in a cross-strap 52, spot welded Within the tube 8. 1 Oicourse, the agitator may be used with the modification illustrated inFig. 2 by a similar arrangement, well known in the art.

I vhave found my reel unusually compact and sturdy and of such aconstruction that with its co-operating tank or casing it uses the verymlnimum of developing and xing solutions while at the same timecompletely submerging the film. While the film is usually removed fromthe spool by pulling it along the channels in the opposite direction towhich it was placed on the reel, it Is sometimes desirable, particularlyifthe nlm should Jam, to be able to quickly break apart the reel inremoving the nlm. This may be readily done with my invention.

It is to be understood that different forms of my preferred form may bemade without departing from the spirit of my invention. Having thusdescribed my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure byLetters Yate'nt is:

l. A nlm holder comprising a pair of channels each wound in a spiralwith a continuous opening between the convolutions of said spiral, saidspirals facing each other with their openings facing each other and inregistry, and means for holding said spiral channels in spaced relation,said continuous opening allowing unobstructed flow of fluid from oneside of the spiral to the other.

2. A film holder comprising a pair of channels each wound in asplralwith a continuous openingbetween the oonvolutions of said spiral,said spirals facing each other with their openings facing each other andin registry. said continuous opening allowing unobstructed now of iluidfrom one side of the spiral to the other, means for holding said spiralchannels in spaced relation. said channel holding means comprising apair of telescoping metal tubes one attached to each spiral channel andhaving means for locking said tubes in telescoped relation.

3. A nlm edge holder comprising a channel having a U-shapedcross-section and wound in a spiralwith theopeningofthechannelinoneplane for receiving the lm edge, and having a continuous cpening betweenthe convolutions of l the spiral, said continuous opening allowingunhaving a U-shapedcross-section and wound in a spiral with the openingof the channel in one plane, the inner end of said channel being closedand the outer end of said channel having a lip associated with the Wallof the channel and contacting the succeeding convolution. t

5. A flm edge holder comprising a channel having a U-shapedcross-section and wound in a spiral With a continuous space between theconvolutions of the spiral and withv the opening ofthe channel in asingle plane, the inner end of said channel being closed and the outerend of the channel having extending lips associated with the channelwalls, the inner lip contacting the succeeding convolution and having aprojecting hump therein, to facilitate the entry of a film into saidchannel.

6.A film reel comprising a pair of film edge holders as set forth inclaim with the spiral of one edge holder being the reverse of the other,and with the channel openings facing and in registry with each other,said channelsy being mounted on a pair of telescoping tubes, means onsaid tubes for removably positioning the lm edge holders a predetermineddistance from each other and insuring their registry.

7. A film reel comprising a pair of film edge holders as set forth inclaim 5 with the spiral of l one edge holder being the reverse of theother,

and with the channel openingsA facing and in` registry with each other,said channels being mounted on a pair of telescoping tubes, means onsaid tubes for removably positioning the lm edge holders a predetermineddistance from each other and insuring their registry, said positioningmeans being capable of a plurality of I settings for a plurality ofdifferent predetermined positions.

8. A film reel comprising a pair of film edge holders as set forth inclaim 5 with the spiral of one edge holder being the reverse of theother, and with the channel openings facing and in registry with eachother, said channels being mounted on a pair of telescoping tubes, meanson said tubes for removably positioning the filmedge holders apredetermined distance from each other and insuring their registrysaidpositioning means being capable of a plurality of settings for aplurality of different predetermined positions, said positioning meanscomprising a longitudinal slot in one tube with offset slots and abayonet pin in the other tube slidably positioned in said slot.

HARRY H. CHAFVIN.

